Sewing-awl.



No. 655,548 Patented Aug. 7, |900. E. C. ESPEY H. W. HARRIS.

SEWING AWL.

(Application filed Apr. 8, 1900.)

(No. Model.)

WITNESSES /N VENTOHS UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ELI COLLINS ESPEY AND ROBERT WELLINGTON HARRIS, O F ILEASANTON,

KANSAS.

SEWING-AWL..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,548, dated August 7, `1900.

Application filed April 3, 1900.

To all wiz/0m it may concern,.-

Be it known that we, ELI COLLINS ESPEY and ROBERT WELLINGTON HARRIS, citizens of the United States, and residents of Pleasanton, in the county of Linn and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Sewing-Awl, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description.

Our invention is an improvement in the class of sewing-awls whose handles are provided With a recess or chamber to receive a thread-wound spool, from which the thread passes to the eye of the awl-point and is drawn o as required.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations of the same, as will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

A practical embodimentof the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,v in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a perspective View of the improvement. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same on the line 2 2 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same on the line 3 3 in Fig. .2.

The improved sewing-awl is provided with a suitable handle A, carrying at its front end a chuck B for receiving and holdinga needle C, of any approved construction. In one side of the handle A is arranged a longitudinallyextending recess A', through which extends a spool-holder D in the form' of a pin, having bearings in the ends of the handle A, as is plainly indicated in Fig. 2, the rear end of said holder beingformed with a head adapted to be taken hold of by the operator for withdrawing the holder from its bearing and allowing of removing anv empty spool E from the holder or placing a filled spool on thev said holder within the recess A. The spool E carries the usual thread F, which unwinds from the spool and extends rst transversely through an eye G., vmo.unted to slide longitudinally in a slotted guideway H, attached to one side of the handle A, the thread F leading from the outer end of the handle alongside the handle to the eye of the needle C, as indicated in the drawings. The eye G Serial No. 1 1,331. (No model.)

is pressed on by a coil-spring I, extending longitudinallyin a recess A2, formed in the handle A in the rear of the guideway H, the

outer end of said spring being secured to the back of the handle, as indicated in the drawings. Normally the spring I holds the eye Gina rearward position; but when the device is used for sewing the eye G travels forward and backward in its guideway H, according to the position of the coil of thread unwinding at the time from the spool E, to prevent tangling of the thread in the spool and in said eye.

In using the device the operator takes hold Iof the handle A in such a manner that the fingers extend through the opening of the recess A to engage the spool E and the thread F, unwinding therefrom, and give the desired tension to the thread as the latter unwinds from the spool in the operation of sewing, carried on in the usual manner. Thus by the operators fingers engaging the thread and the spool in the recess A4 more or less tension may be given to the unwinding thread, according to the nature of the work in hand, and, furthermore, a proper unwi'nding of the thread is always insured, owing to the springpressed feed-eye G, movable longitudinally in the gnideway H.

By the arrangement described a large recess A' can be provided in the handle A to receive a very large spool filled with quite an amount of thread, so that the awl can be used for a considerable length of time before the thread is used up and before a new spool needs to be inserted in the handle. By having the recess A open at one side of the han dle the operator can at any time see how much thread is left on the spool, and in case but a smallamount of thread is on the spool the operator can readily replace this spoel with a filled one before beginning a new seam on the work in hand. v

The needle C is provided with the usual eye for the passage of the thread, and the said needle is also preferably provided with a longitudinally-extending recess in the rear of the eye for guiding the thread to the needleeye from the eye Having thus fullydescribed our invention,

IOO

we`claixn as new and desired to secure by Letl. An awl, comprising a handle having a recess formed in its side, a needle carried by said handle, a removable spool-holder heldv in the handle and extending longitudinally4 in said recess to receive and hold a spool with the thread thereon, a guide or feed eye mounted to slide longitudinally in said handle and arranged for the passage of the thread from the spool tothe needle, and a spring controlling said guide vor feed eye, as set forth.

2. A sewing-awl, comprising a handle having a lengthwise recess 'formed inone side, a needle carried by said handle, a spool-holder `in the form of a removable pin held in said handle and extending through said recess lengthwise thereof, said spool-holder being adapted to receive Jthe spool, a slotted plate secured to said handle parallel to said recess, a guide-eye mounted to slide on said slotted plate and adapted to guide the thread from the spool to said needle and a helical spring arranged lengthwise in the handle and -con nected with the l outer end of same and to said guide-eye, as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed ournames to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.`

ELI COLLINS ESPEY. ROBERT WELLINGTON HARRIS. W'itnesses:A

WALTER E. WHITE, SAMUEL P. HAYs. 

